As oceans, seas and coastal areas all over the world are facing increasing pressures owing to climate change, pollution and globalization, women and men feel the impacts of degraded coastal and marine ecosystems in different ways. Across societies, women and men use and manage marine and coastal ecosystems differently and have specific knowledge, capabilities and needs related to coastal and marine resources. Historically, the work and contributions of women, informal workers and indigenous groups have been routinely ignored or underestimated in coastal and marine research, management and policy, including, but not limited to, their important work in fisheries and aquaculture, in the processing and trading of marine products, in managing plastic and other waste from urban and tourist growth, and in conservation and disaster risk reduction initiatives.
Increasingly, collective calls for participative, integrated and sustainable approaches to marine and coastal science and management are met with calls for gender inclusiveness, mainstreaming and sensitivity across the environment and development agendas. Yet, even as policymakers, environmental managers and development practitioners are made aware of why gender mainstreaming is important in the integrated management of marine and coastal ecosystems, they lack the practical guidance and tools on how to do it. This report brings together gender experts and experts from other fields in coastal and marine research to bridge this gender-technical divide.
The report is centered on 10 gender mainstreaming principles developed to offer structure and guide the practice of gender mainstreaming into the integrated management of coastal and marine ecosystems. These principles can be considered “tried and tested” strategies for promoting socially just, environmentally sustainable and economically efficient development in coastal and marine contexts.
The 10 gender mainstreaming principles are also illustrated in action through 10 case studies from different countries with distinct geographical and social contexts. The case studies cover a wide set of themes in coastal and marine ecosystem management and highlight the work of diverse stakeholders, including conservation organizations, researchers, government ministries, civil society, the private sector and community-based groups. Each of the 10 case studies aims to explain the rationale behind the use of a particular gender mainstreaming principle (why), illustrate the practical aspects of implementing it in a specific context of coastal and marine ecosystem management (how), and offer lessons learned and recommendations. The cases are vivid examples of the potential broader social and environmental impacts of integrating gender principles into marine and coastal management projects.
The report also offers insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting coastal people, livelihoods and ecosystems, based on information gathered from individual case studies, in terms of disaster preparedness, COVID-19 impacts, mitigation measures and lessons learned. Importantly, many coastal communities are confronting COVID-19 while also facing other overlapping climate-induced, health and environmental crises, such as dengue and cholera, flooding, monsoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes and wildfires. The pandemic also led to drastic increases in gender-based discrimination and violence across communities and livelihood sectors in coastal and marine contexts. Coping with multifaceted crises in coastal regions often involves a heavy reliance on women and their paid and unpaid care work within households and communities.
This report builds on a previous publication exploring a similar premise of gender-equitable marine and coastal management.
